So, I gotta say I disagree with a lot of what's posted in here. My story literally flips many tropes (because what you call a cliche is more than likely a trope, by definition) on their head, intentionally. I have no smut, to boot. The fact is that I see this as a site where proper grammar and literary skill trumps story. I've seen dozens of books with atrocious writing skills have as many views with 40 chapters and months of uptime as my story with just over a day and only 7 chapters.

If you take time, and write with pride, I'm sure your novel will soar above and beyond the status quo, IMHO. If you put as much love into your book as you want it to receive, you will be pleasantly surprised!

    Alpha_Medic Ye, but this is just me sharing my experience, that my smut story over took my serious one. I think casual may also have a point, but I see yours too.

      HotRedFlaming I can understand that, to a degree. But, and take this for what you will, I want to offer some advice from writing for a long time: Take pride in your work, even if you are afraid it won't go over well. I sincerely believe that if a writer has pride in what they've written, it will show. I see a lot of stories on this site where I read comments/reviews/replies from the writer that imply they aren't 100% satisfied with their story. Those are the same stories that I notice are not doing so well, when compared to others.

      It's a small thing, and I might be entirely wrong. But if you don't like your story, odds are that nobody else will, either.

      HotRedFlaming quick reply cuz Im on the phone. Checked the first chapter of your new story. Its beyond awful. Not even the plot as i was repulsed by the very first paragraph. What you fail to understand here is that neither of your novels did any good. Your smut novel just lured people with cover and title, and smut doesn't get co tracts either way.

      I could write a lot more to soften this or to elavorate, but as I said, I'm on the phone. Write whatever, daily. Read a lot. Those two things will helo you improve. Because right now, your novels effectively ends within first 3 sentences.

        MotivatedSloth I see, As I said the smut was something that I wrote without much planning. In reality I was just experimenting and see how it could go. So even I could say it was awful. But could you elaborate how but I did with my other novels?

          HotRedFlaming Decided to check in before I drifted off to sleep. Ignore the asshole who is dissing your work while displaying their poor grammar and punctuation. They claim they are so much better, but they can't even reply to a forum comment with decent literary skills, so I doubt they have much in the way of presence in the community itself. Contracts aren't important. We aren't here to make money (at least, I hope not), we are here to share our gifts with others and bring happiness to our readers.

            Alpha_Medic Though I can't help but agree with him that my opening sucks. But thus far no one has uncollected them yet and for one day I got decent collections. So I could only take a grains of salt of what he said and I don't intend to take his opinion objectively true because these are just his views. It could be trash on ones eyes and a decent read for the other.(nothing I can do about it) But I just wanted to point out that my smut has no serious plotting and follows the storyline of many hentais that you can see. So I was brainless when I wrote those, lol.

            As for my other novels, some people said my work is good. And if he calls my work trash thats his opinion. But I can be sensitive sometimes and lose my motivation in writing all together. I just hope this doesnt evolve into a huge argument.

              Don't be discouraged by that. Even if your novel which you spent a month planning isn't doing well. Continue writing it and apply for a contract (that is if you're willing to sign away your rights to it in exchange of promotion and royalties). If the content editor found value in your work, they will send you one and if you choose to sign, they will immediately put your story at the front page, exposing you to readers that will surely try and pick your novel up.

              Well, that's the only way for your novel to get more exposure that was seemingly missed by most during your initial writing.

                HotRedFlaming It took me 2 years to become a proper author with a unique set of skills. The time might vary for each but we all start with trash that we thought was a gem. Even Sloth above started out like that. The first work he poured blood and sweat into was bashed harshly.

                He then shed buckets of blood and sweat and used all previous experiences to create his own ideas to fruition. Now, he has his own unique style that readers will be able to recognize anywhere. He's been creating masterpieces one after another. And, he is putting in the effort every day to improve even more.

                We all take time to grow...only in the case we put the required effort and have a lot of patience.

                  Overlord_Venus I could agree that my novel is not that good, and I'm planning to delete it since it's not something I wrote with serious intentions. But ye, I'm willing to improve but I need some time to reflect on myself why I joined in webnovel in the first place.

                    HotRedFlaming You shouldn't judge your book without at least writing 100k words in it. Only then will you get the experience. Believe me, you will automatically improve every 100k words

                      HotRedFlaming Your writing isn't that bad, but yeah, it does feel choppy and boring. It doesn't really hook you in at the first sentence. I wouldn't go so far as to say it's beyond awful or that I was repulsed, but it certainly wasn't easy on the eyes.

                      A lot of the advice here is sound. The only way to improve is to read a lot more, and to keep writing. Practice is the best way to improve. Write, write some more, and write even more. Don't give up. Everyone starts somewhere. As long as you don't give up and keep trying, you'll definitely get better and succeed eventually.

                      Reading more doesn't necessarily mean you copy other writers, though. It does feel like you're just grabbing tropes and scenes from other stories that you've read elsewhere and mashed them together. Perhaps you might also want to consider why you want to write this story, what's so special about it, and what exactly is it about this character that makes him unique - for example, you claim that his sisters are "unique", but so far they have done nothing that make them unique. They just seem one-dimensional and cookie-cutter. When working on characters, don't just stuff traits into them to make them unique - think of what you want their roles in the story to be. Why are they in the story? What is their purpose, their motivations? Then build it from there. Right now, the sisters just seem to be there for the sole purpose of being in your protagonist's harem, and that is probably why they feel so flat.

                        HotRedFlaming Now that I'm on the PC, let's start the count to close the mouth of the people that are too fragile to take an honest word. The things that I remember from your first paragraph:

                        Wall of text - instantly puts the readers away. Reader's attention span is incredibly short so you need short (2-4 sentences on average) paragraphs to keep them interested

                        No hook - That's the most important part. When starting your novel, there is nothing that would make me interested. Nothing that will make me ask - what does that mean? What will happen next?

                        Infodump - the way that you are describing the scene feels forced, or rather, it feels as if the only aim of doing so is for the sake of forcing the basic information down my throat as I read it. Exposition is necessary, but so is hiding it away. If you explain how the world works to the readers in such a way, it makes them doubt whether you can do it organically.

                        Those are the bullet points I saw from the first paragraph. Personally, I would focus on the first part (short paragraphs). You can do so by imagining one thing (particular one, not something big.) that you want the paragraph to introduce. Change of positions, reaction, action, movement. A single paragraph for a single thing.

                        Generally, don't take it personally. Writing is a craft that one needs to learn, and you can only do so by writing. Don't expect much progress with your first novels but consider them as a learning experience. Then, one day, maybe one of them will suddenly explode? Or maybe you will write something that will make you proud?

                        Alpha_Medic I never openly claimed I'm better and I did mention that I was writing that on the phone. The OP just lacks skill and knowledge to write. It's not something to be ashamed off, as all the writers started like that. Some could use their talent to start on a better footing, but ultimately it all boils down to the practice. The practice that the OP lacks. As for my presence, the fact that you don't know me only means that you joined this place recently. Nowadays I'm too busy with writing my novels to bother with this hellhole where people like you act as if you can do something great just like that, insulting all the hard work that authors are putting into their craft. Begone.

                        PS: Your comment about the money aspect proved that there is absolutely no value in speaking with you. Go and live in your imaginary world where people will be willing to put a lot of effort over an extended amount of time just for a hobby that's actually a hard job. This also shows how little you have to do with professional writing.

                          MotivatedSloth Thanks for the honest words. I see your point I had my friend read this and his point was the same as well, he said it was bad. But saying it was beyond awful I would kinda disagree, if you said bad maybe sure. And I'm planning to add something to this, but in this regard I can admit I just suck at openings.

                            Tomoyuki hhahah yeah, I could agree they were cut outs not much planning right there. I just wrote what was inside my head at that time and I was focused on telling rather than showing. I would definitely give this work of mine to be around 6/10.

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